Time and Darkness
by Trevaacin
Summary: When Sky woke up on the beach with no memories of his past- and a tail too!- he thought his luck was pretty bad. Until a time travelling thief from the future began his plot to shroud the world in eternal darkness. And with seven mystical wish granting orbs thrown in the mix, that's just a recipe for disaster. DBZ x Mystery Dungeon crossover. Beta Reader needed.
1. Storm at Sea

**So this is my first attempt at writing a fan fiction, so I decided I'd try something I've never seen before. DBZ crossover, obviously, and I want to see if anyone knows the game this was inspired by and crossed over with.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

 **Prologue**

It was, like many nights of that time of year, a dark and stormy night. Dark clouds covered the sky, blotting out the light of the moon and stars. A heavy rain fell from the heavens onto the land and sea, the steady drumming sound interrupted only by the occasional clap of thunder, following ominous flashes of lightning that occasionally illuminated a tall bluff overlooking the sea.

In contrast to the sounds of Mother Nature's wrath, two voices could be heard crying out to one another.

"Whoa! Wh- wh- whoa!" The first voice cried out.

"Are… are you okay?!" responded the other.

A brief pause followed, as thunder roared again, and the second voice continued, "Just a little longer… Come on! Hang on!"

Another pause, and lightning flashed, as if to add to the intensity of the situation. The first voice was faint now as it responded, gasping for breath, "N-n-no! I can't… hold on…!

The owner of the first voice cried out, and then there was silence.

* * *

The next morning…

A young boy slowly woke up, groaning slightly as he tentatively began to move.

"Urgh…" he said, to no one in particular, "Wh-where am I?"

There was no answer.

He slowly clenched his right hand, surprised as the ground sifted through his hands. Sand. Now that he thought about it, he heard a gentle lapping sound nearby. The sound was unfamiliar to him, but he instinctively knew what it meant. So he was on a beach.

As he slowly began to open his eyes, careful to avoid the glare of the morning sun, he noticed two things. First, he was right to think he was on a beach, and he appeared to be being prodded with a red stick…

It was then he noticed the boy standing over him, his hair poking out at odd angles, and a tail hanging in the air behind him.

A tail? He was certain he had never seen a boy with a tail before. How strange…

The boy spoke up then, having noticed he was awake, "Hey! Are you alright? I found you lying on the beach!"

The boy stood up slowly, pausing to get his balance. He felt odd… as if he was unusually heavy. He nearly fell backwards before righting himself.

"Hey!" the other boy shouted, "You have a tail like me! My grandpa didn't have a tail, and I haven't met anyone else, does everyone have tails?

What? He had a tail? The boy looked behind him, and surely enough a furry appendage hung lazily in the air behind him. That was really odd, he was certain he hadn't had one before. What was going on?

The boy who was speaking hadn't noticed him and was still speaking "... and Grandpa said there were girls too, but I've never seen one, do you know what they're like?" He paused for breath, and then remembered something, "Oh yeah! I'm Goku, what's your name?"

The boy paused for a second, thinking about what Goku had asked. His name? He thought for a second, and then realized, he couldn't remember his own name! He began to panic, desperately searching for some memories of his past, and found… nothing.

His heart skipped a beat, " _I have no idea where I am, who I am, or anything!_ " He thought to himself.

Goku, on the other hand, was confused. "Huh! Are you okay?" he asked, tilting his head slightly.

The boy responded hastily, "Oh yeah! Sure! I'm fine! My name…" He searched desperately for anying on him with some hint at his past and noticed something scrawled on the inside of the jacket he wore. Funny, it was way too warm to wear a jacket in this weather, had he come from somewhere colder? The word read _Sky_. He guessed he must have written his name on it to mark his clothing.

"My name's Sky" he said, slightly uncertainly, then more confidently, "Yeah, my name's Sky."

"Nice to meet you! Where'd you come from anyways? My grandpa always said we lived a long way from everyone else! I've always wondered where other people live."

"Uh…" Sky responded, not sure what to say, "you see, I kinda forgot where I'm from...:" he said after a pause.

"Huh?" was all Goku had to say to that. Was he lost? Goku had never gotten lost before, but he'd never travelled very far. Even now he was only a few miles from his Grandpa's small hut in the woods. He wasn't sure what that'd be like, but it didn't sound like much fun. Was the guy hungry? Goku knew he'd be. Then again, he was always hungry.

Sky hesitated for a moment, then explained everything he knew about himself, which wasn't much. That he had no memories before waking up on the beach, and that he was certain he hadn't had a tail earlier, but had no idea what caused the transformation.

"Oh. Okay!" was Goku's response when Sky finished.

"Huh? You believe me?" Was all he said.

" Yeah!" Goku responded, "You don't look like you're lying…"

Sky was shocked at his trust. He couldn't remember why, but he was certain most people weren't so willing to blindly trust one another.

His thoughts were interrupted by two large growling sounds.

"Oh!" Goku laughed, "You're hungry too! Come on, let's go get something to eat!" he said, taking off, not checking to see if Sky was following.

"Hey!" Sky shouted, "where are we going?"

"To the river near Grandpa's!" Goku shouted back, "Come on! I'll show you how to fish with your tail"

And with that they disappeared into the woods.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the other side of the planet, a figure darts through the woods with a grace beyond that any human is capable of. The figure continues, a sense of urgency apparent to it, before pausing after a while. It reaches into a small bag on its side, and pulls out a small roll of parchment from it.

The creature unrolls the parchment, and takes a look at a image drawn on it, labeled in an ancient language indecipherable to most individuals. It rolls the parchment back up and returns it to the bag before continuing. After a while it speaks, if only to itself.

"Soon, soon I'll be close to the first one." it says, a hint of excitement noticeable in its voice, "but still, I'll have to be cautious. The last thing I need is _him_ finding out and interfering with my plans."

* * *

 **And that concludes my first fanfiction, please leave a review to tell me anything I could do better, and if anyone finds this story interesting I'll be sure to continue it.**


	2. Of Stones and Dragons

**So I kinda realized not many people may have heard of what I'm specifically doing a crossover of, so I'll explain a slight bit before starting the first chapter. Mystery Dungeon is a game series where (for differing reasons) the main character is a human turned into a pokemon. In this series instead he is turned into a saiyan (although this is too early in the series for saiyans to be mentioned. Sky's name comes from the game he's from, following the trend for naming Pokémon protagonists. Sorry for any confusion, and this chapter should be longer than the prologue.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing**

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

Sky was standing in front of the river where Goku had taught him to fish, gazing steadily at his reflection. He had no concrete memories of his past, but something still felt… odd. He looked at the face that gazed back at him with confusion. He was certain, although he wasn't sure how, that he had looked different before. He gazed into the onyx eyes in his mirror image, but he couldn't help but feel they had used to be another color. His hair, its color and the way it spiked up, also felt strange. He cast aside the troublesome thoughts. There was no good just standing around and thinking about it. He looked over to Goku, who had just caught a particularly large fish with his tail and now held it over his head.

"Hey! Let's take this over to Grandpa's and cook it, I'm starving!" shouted Goku, and, not waiting for a response, he began running down the road towards where his Grandpa must have lived. Sky hesitated for a moment, then moved to follow.

The house, if it could be called one, that Goku claimed to be his Grandpa's was small, to say the least. It had a single room and was mostly barren. In the middle of the room sat a glass orange ball on a cushion, with four red stars inside of it. Sky had never seen anything like it, but one look was all it took to know it had to be something important. It seemed to have an aura of mystery just hanging around it.

Goku gestured to the ball before he spoke, "This is my grandpa!" he proclaimed to Sky before he continued, not at all phased by the look of confusion now present on Sky's face, "It belonged to my grandpa, he showed it to me the day he was squashed by the giant monster."

A shadow cast over Goku's usually cheerful face as he said this. Sky didn't know what to say. He stood there in silence as he looked back to the ball, " _so that's all Goku has to remember him by,"_

he thought to himself. He was about to open his mouth before a low growl interrupted him.

"I guess we should go cook the fish now," Goku said sheepishly, rubbing his stomach.

Sky cast one last look at the mysterious orb before they headed back outside and began gathering firewood to prepare their meal.

* * *

The darkness that surrounded Sky as he ran seemed endless. He ran through the barren wasteland, the only sound was that of his feet and the scurrying sound of his pursuers, and his thumping heart. He jumped, ran and stumbled his way through the barren wasteland in the endless darkness, the only light he could see coming from the six gleaming eyes of his assailants.

Around him the landscape was bleak, a cold mass of rock formations which stood so still it was hard to imagine there had ever been anything else, or ever would be. Above him the sky was bleak, devoid of stars, clouds, or anything really, totally unforgiving. He looked back once more at his pursuers. That was a mistake. Before he could react, his foot struck a protruding rock and he fell to the hard ground. The last thing he saw as he turned around to stand was the gleaming claws of one of the creatures chasing him.

Sky bolted upright, sweat beading his face and breathing heavily. He opened his eyes hesitantly, and realized he was on the floor in Goku's small hut.

"It was just a dream," he reassured himself as he looked around, his heartbeat gradually slowing, "just a dream."

This was the fourth night he had stayed with Goku since he had woken up on that beach with no memories of his past. Four nights and he still had no idea who he was. Four nights and he was still having that same nightmare. It was always the same, never changing. The same barren land, the same dark sky, and the same creatures gleaming in the night.

He stood up, knowing he wouldn't be able to sleep any more that night and walked outside, hoping some fresh air would calm his nerves.

When he got outside, Sky took a deep breath and looked up into the starry sky. Shining brighter than its surroundings the crescent moon cast a soft silvery light upon the landscape. Sky heard footsteps behind him and turned to see Goku emerging, stretching and yawning as he did.

"You were yelling in your sleep." he said groggily, "did the monster Grandpa told me about come?

He looked up and took note of the moon, "huh, that's funny, I thought Grandpa said the monster only came if I looked at the full moon."

"No," Sky said back, "it was just a nightmare."

"A nightmare?," Goku questioned, "that's funny, I don't remember what I was dreaming about."

He stood there for a second, struggling to think of whatever he planned on saying next, before heading back into the small hut. A moment later, he emerged again, holding a rock in one of his hands. He held it out, and Sky was intrigued by what he saw. The rock was flat on one side, and an interesting pattern could be seen decorating the smooth side.

"I found this rock one day when I was hunting with Grandpa one day," Goku explained, "it looked really cool so I decided to take it back with me. It's my personal treasure, just like grandpa's. Whenever I'm scared I look at it to calm down."

"Wow," responded Sky, "I've never seen anything like it"

As they stood there, the sun began to peek above the trees in the horizon. The two turned their attention to the sky as the stars gave way for the brilliant light of the sun, transforming the sky into a beautiful array of reds, oranges, and yellows.

"This is amazing," said Goku, "I guess it's time to go hunt breakfast!"

Sky raised an eyebrow at this comment, "how does everything lead to food with you?"

Goku just grinned and motioned for him to follow, and they began yet another day in the wilderness.

* * *

But, as fate would have it, this would not turn out to be quite like any days in the past. Shortly after noon, as Goku and Sky were returning one day from a hunt, and tiger hanging over Goku's shoulder, a low humming sound could be heard in the distance.

Sky tilted his head to the side, confused. "That's an odd sound, I've never heard an animal like that before."

The sound continued to grow in volume until a strange object appeared on the road in the distance. To the boys it appeared to be a shiny red animal, floating above the ground and hurling towards them at an incredible pace.

"It's a monster!" Goku shouted, before removing the red pole from his back and assuming a fighting pose, "stay back! Power pole, extend!"

The red pole grew in length before Sky's astonished eyes, before Goku brought it down upon the strange beast, bringing it to the ground and causing smoke to erupt from it.

Suddenly the strange creature spoke in a surprisingly high pitched voice. Well rather the creature let out a high pitched scream!

"It's still alive!" shouted Goku, raising his staff to deliver the finishing blow, "come out of that shell of yours or else!"

Trembling, a young blue haired girl climbed out of her destroyed vehicle "They're some kind of monsters!" she shouted, before drawing what looked to be a metal boomerang from her waist and pointing the hollow end at Goku's forehead.

Six loud bangs rang out through the air and both Goku and Sky flying backwards.

Clutching his head Sky stood up and rubbed his head, "Owwww… what'd you do that for? Goku killed that monster you were trapped inside of, shouldn't you be thanking him?"

Bulma was absolutely dumbfounded, "Wha- y- you shouldn't be alive kid!" she exclaimed before continuing, "and what do you mean saved me? You destroyed my car! I don't have any replacements for it you know!"

Goku spoke up at this, "Huh? Car? I've never heard of that animal before, what's it taste like?"

Had Bulma not just climbed out of the burnt ruins of her favorite car, she would have been even more floored by this statement. However, at this point her confusion was overshadowed by a gradually growing anger at the two odd boys that stood before her.

"It's not an animal you dimwit, it's a machine for travelling around!"

"Machine?"

"Something made out of metal parts, it's not alive."

"It tastes bad?"

"You don't eat it!"

Bulma sighed at this, today was just not her day. It was just her luck that she ran into a couple abnormally strong country bumpkins who had never seen a piece of technology in their lives. She sighed, pressing a button on her car and compressing it back into a small capsule, placing it in her pocket.

Goku and Sky, however, who had never seen anything like it, jumped back.

"First the makeen," exclaimed Goku, trying to pronounce the new word and failing miserably, "and now she can make things disappear into thin air! She looks kinda funny too, she must be a witch!"

"A witch?" No!" responded Bulma, looking at him as if he had gone insane, "I'm a girl silly! Haven't you ever seen one before?"

"A girl? Oh yeah, I remember Grandpa mentioning girls once!" Goku responded, "Is that why you don't have a tail?"

"Huh, what do- you two have tails?" asked Bulma incredulously.

"Huh, I guess most people don't have tails then," remarked Sky. _So that's why it felt so odd, I wonder how I ended up with one_ , he thought to himself.

"Well…" said Bulma with a sigh, "I guess I can't blame you too for destroying my car, it doesn't look like you've ever come across any other people before."

She paused, then took what looked like a large circular disk with one side covered in green glass from her pocket. She held it up and pressed a button on the top, creating a small blip sound and three points to appear on the grid, three together right where she was, and a fourth slightly further ahead.

It was at this moment that Goku remembered he'd been holding the fish he had caught the entire time. Or rather, his stomach reminded him, its loud rumble reminding him he had yet to eat lunch.

"Let's go back to grandpa's!" he announced before promptly moving to do just that, "I'm starved!"

Sky took off after him, and Bulma, realizing they were headed in the direction of the dragon ball she was after, soon followed.

Upon arriving, Goku noticed something was out of the ordinary.

"Hey, grandpa is glowing!"

Bulma was surprised by this, "Hey! That's a dragon ball you've got there!" she exclaimed.

It was at this statement that Sky began to wonder if he was going crazy. "I'm sorry, a dragon's _what_ now?"

Bulma looked at them, "Haven't you ever heard the story, its an old- oh wait, you two live in the middle of nowhere. Anyways, there are seven of them in total scattered across the world, and if you get all seven they'll summon a dragon and grant a wish!"

"A wish? Like any wish?" _Could I use them to get my memories back?_

"That's what the legends say. I've been travelling across the world looking for them, I've got two so far."

Bulma reached into the bag at this and revealed two orange orbs like the one Goku got from his grandpa, each with a different amount of stars in the center.

This whole wish making business had managed to get Goku's attention, and he looked over from the fish he had half eaten to ask Bulma a question, "So what are you going to wish for then?"

Bulma blushed slightly at this question, "It's uhhh… something personal… you wouldn't understand" she answered quickly. _If I tell them I'm going to wish for the perfect boyfriend, they'll think I'm crazy!_ She thought to herself _I don't think they even know what a boyfriend is._

"Oh, okay." was all Goku had to say before returning his attention to more important issues. Namely, the half eaten meal in front of him.

"So…" Bulma continued, "could I borrow that dragon ball of yours then?" she smiled seductively, "I can show you something you boys would like in exchange."

"Oh!" Goku perked up, "is it tasty?'

Bulma abandoned her plan at that, the boys didn't seem to get what she was getting at, and she doubted it would work. _Come on…_ she thought to herself, _I'm an incredible genius, there's gotta be something I can offer the boys in exchange for the dragon ball. Oh! That's it!_

"If you give me the dragon ball, how about I take you with me to see the dragon. Aren't boys your age obsessed with adventures?"

"Can I have it back once you're done with it?" Goku questioned.

"Well," said Bulma, "one the wish is made the balls scatter across the world, but we can use my radar to find it again once they reactivate."

"Alright!" Goku responded. This would be great! The thought of all the kinds of food he hadn't tried yet across the world was already making his mouth water.

"Yeah," said Sky, also interested in the idea of an adventure, "maybe if we go to new places, I'll find something that reminds me of who I was."

"Oh, do you have amnesia?" Bulma asked, "that must be terrible, I read a story about a boy with amnesia once."

"I found him on the beach one day and he didn't even know his own name!" said Goku, then tilted his head slightly, having never put much thought into the matter, "is that normal?"

"Not that I've heard of," responded Bulma, "but if you come with me I'll see if I can help you with your memories." Besides, after having witnesses her bullets bounce harmlessly off the boys, doing no more damage than mosquito bites, Bulma had realized maybe keeping those two around wasn't such a bad idea. After all, they didn't need to be smart with an incredible genius like her around!

Bulma reached into her pocket and produced a capsule similar to the one she had returned her broken car to, and tossing it onto the ground, another car, slightly larger than the first, emerged.

And with that the newly formed trio took off in quest of the dragon balls and Sky's lost memories. Little did they know, this was just the beginning of a tale that would soon span time, and darkness.

* * *

Across the world, a green, almost humanoid figure sat perched on a log, attempting in vain to read the map in front of it, occasionally glancing to the side at a diagram of what appeared to be a gear.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid!," It said to itself, "it's just my luck I got separated from him. If I'd foreseen this, I would've bothered to study this map in more detail before beginning the quest. Just my luck, nothing is going to plan."

It brought up a cigarette it had found to its mouth, where it got it is anyone's guess. Forming a ball of energy in one hand, it lit the end and brought it to its mouth. Moments later its eyes widened and it spit out the cigarette, coughing.

"Gah!" it said between breaths, "what was that thing? It's nothing like what those old films advertised! Disgusting!"

It stood up at this, and looking around, said, "I guess I'll have to go find someone to point out to me where I am, good thing I gave myself time to spare," before taking off into the trees.

* * *

 **And that wraps up my first chapter. Anyways there may be some contradictions as it's been years since I saw the original dragon ball, and the next chapter may take a bit longer to come out, I've gotta figure out a way to incorporate Drowzee for plot reasons.**

 **Oh and I've seen a lot of fics that add power levels at the end, so I guess I'll start doing that.**

 **Power levels:**

 **Goku: 25**

 **Sky: 19**

 **Bulma: 2**


	3. The Town and the Outlaw

**So, in order to compensate for my lack of knowledge on the initial hunt for the dragonballs, most of it will be covered through time skips and flashbacks as Sky's presence won't really change much. The main story will be in the Red Ribbon Army saga anyways. On the bright side, the time skip gods have brought back Oolong. You're welcome Oolong fans, assuming you exist.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing**

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

Sky was bored. Very bored. So. Incredibly. Bored.

Honestly, if it weren't for the fact that he had no memories, he'd have slapped himself for being so stupid for forgetting the longest part of an adventure. He somehow knew that a philosopher had once called the journey more important than the destination, but that man was a shameless liar. There was nothing more boring than sitting in a car for hours on end, travelling across the entire world. It didn't help that Goku was up above, gleefully flying on the cloud he'd been given by that old hermit the turtle knew, which apparently Sky wasn't pure of heart enough to ride, even though he couldn't remember why. It was almost as if Goku were mocking him, but on second thought Goku probably didn't know how.

It wasn't as if the interesting sights along the way didn't make up for the time spent on the road, however. So far they had all the dragonballs but one, and an interesting story behind each one.

At first the journey had started out slow, with nothing happend until they ran into a turtle who needed help finding the ocean. How it had managed to get hundreds of miles inland was something only the Helix knew. There they'd received a dragon ball from a strange hermit with a turtle shell on his back, and whose nose bled heavily when Bulma lifted her skirt at him. Sky was confused by this, and Goku was too preoccupied with the cloud he'd just received, kinto'un was what he called it, to notice.

After that they'd helped save a village from a shapeshifting pig who was kidnapping several girls, and deciding he would be useful brought him along, finding a dragon ball there as well.

While following Bulma's radar to the next dragon ball they had been attacked by a long haired bandit and his shapeshifting, flying cat companion. Goku's empty stomach had been his downfall, and Sky had almost been defeated, but in the end his instincts had saved him and beat the bandit, who promptly fled. Apparently Sky had known how to fight before he lost his memories, which was exciting to learn, but that was all Sky had learned of his past on the adventure.

Finally, they had gone to a place known as Fire Mountain. As the name implied, it was on fire. Although Sky wondered how it had gotten the name, it hadn't always been on fire, had it? After a brief fight with a man they called the Ox-King, Goku went with his daughter to ask the old hermit, who turned out to be the great Muten Roshi (as Sky was told), to put out the fire. And so, although the legendary Bansho fan was lost, the old master did destroy the fire, and the palace, and the entire mountain. Goku, awed by the power of the Turtle Hermit's Kamehameha, managed to replicate a weaker version of it. As they left, Goku had told Sky that the girl, Chi-Chi, had made him promise to come back for a new food called "marriage". Sky didn't get it, it didn't sound _that_ tasty.

Sky sighed. All of this and he had only learned two things about himself. First that he had been a fighter, and also that he was apparently incredibly gifted at monologuing. Which was a great skill to have. You never interrupted an opponent while they were monologuing or powering up in a fight, those were the rules of battle. Anything else would just be too logical.

He looked at his fingers. Four… he had recounted his adventures thus far four times. And from a quick look at the radar, the next dragon ball was still miles away. Why did the world have to be so big? He resorted to asking the same question of Bulma he'd been asking the past few hours.

"Are we there yet?"

"No." was the sharp response he received.

"How about now?"

"No!"

"Hey Miss Bulma?"

"What?!"

"Can we stop at that town over there?" the bored boy asked, pointing to a small town off to their left.

"If it'll shut you up for five minutes, fine."

"Yeah!" Sky yelled, pumping his fist in the air. Finally! He was starting to lose the feeling in his legs. Why were road trips a thing?

He looked up, "Hey Goku!"

"Yeah?"

"We're going to that town over there!"

"Alright! Let's go!"

Bulma shook her head, "Boys… can't they keep still for five minutes?"

And so they entered the town, if it could be called that.

The town, on closer inspection, was no more than a collection of wooden buildings covered in tarp lining a single main road. There was a single shop with only two booths, a bank, several other buildings, and a collection of houses at the outskirts.

As they approached the crossroads, where the only two roads around met, they noticed something interesting. None of the residents appeared to be human, and no two appeared to be the same species, at that.

"And I was surprised by the talking pig…" muttered Bulma.

"Hey, I heard that!" retorted Oolong.

They got out of the car, and Bulma returned it to its capsule as they went down some stairs into an underground building marked "Spinda's Café".

The room inside was fairly spacious, with two counters and four tables with residents gathered all around. Sky looked, taking note of each of them. Behind the counter there was what looked like a bipedal rabbit with swirls for eyes and a pattern of spots for eyes. He walked around dizzily, serving drinks he made in the machine behind him. Two bear like creatures, one big and one small, sat at one table, and three metal creatures with magnets for arms hovered around another.

"I guess we'll get something to drink while we're here." Bulma stated before walking to the counter.

"Welcome! I'm Spinda and this is my café, what would you like to order?" the dizzying creature at the counter asked.

"Can I get…" Bulma paused, looking at the menu, "an oran berry juice?"

"Sure thing!", Spinda remarked, turning to his machine to blend up some berries he placed in it, wobbling back and forth the whole time.

"Wow... " Sky stated, "Just watching him is making me dizzy…" starting to lean backwards and stumbling slightly.

"Me too," replied Goku, just as dizzy, and they began wobbling around the café, walking in slight circles as they followed Bulma, who was taking her drink to one of the tables.

She removed one of the dragon balls and paused to look at it, turning it over while thinking longingly of the wish she was going to make. She looked up, however, when she noticed a figure nearby. Or rather, she saw Sky stumble into a figure nearby, then proceed to run into Goku and land in a heap on the floor. Sometimes Bulma wondered how the two had managed to survive in the wild, if she hadn't seen their power for herself she would never have believed it.

She approached the person Sky had knocked over.

"I'm so sorry about that, my friends aren't used to being in public."

"Oh, it's no problem, Spinda can be quite dizzying to look at, it's not their fault nobody warned them not to watch him too long, most people from out of town don't know that" replied the creature, he had tired-looking eyes, a short trunk above his mouth, and triangular ears. The upper half of his body was yellow and the lower half was brown. "I'm Drowzee, by the way," he finished, offering his hand.

Bulma shook it, and he continued, "I couldn't help but notice that ball you're holding, I saw something similar nearby the other day."

"You did?" Bulma answered, shock evident in her voice. This was perfect, one more and she would have all seven, and she could make her wish!

"Indeed," replied Drowzee, "It was near the summit of Mt. Bristle, if I remember correctly."

"That's great!" exclaimed Bulma, overcome by excitement. Finally, she was at the end of her quest!

"I can take you there if you'd like," offered Drowzee, "the slope is treacherous, and I know the way to where I saw it."

"Of course, lead the way," responded Bulma, then, turning to Sky and Goku, who were still struggling to stand up after recovering from Spinda's dizzying spell, "You two stay here, Drowzee's offered to take me to the last dragon ball."

Drowzee leaned over to help Sky up, who was still struggling to get up, "Here, take my hand," he said, before pulling up Sky and allowing Goku, whose leg had been trapped underneath him, to get up as well.

As Sky watched Bulma leave the café, he began to feel lightheaded.

"That's odd," he muttered to himself, "I feel sort of dizzy, but it's not quite the same…"

He trailed off as, quite suddenly, his vision began to flicker, one, twice, then everything went black. He heard a sharp pitched noise, and, to his astonishment, heard a voice cry out,

"h-h-Help!", it shouted, and as quickly as it all began, everything returned to normal.

"Wha- what was that?" Sky asked himself … _wait, that was Bulma's voice! She's in trouble, I have to help her._ He thought frantically before running out of the café, a confused Goku following him.

"Oolong!" Sky shouted to the pig, who had been left to guard the capsule car, "Bulma's in trouble, we have to go!"

"She is?!" Goku exclaimed.

"Yeah, everything went fuzzy and and then I heard her voice crying for help. Something bad's going to happen, I just know it!" a frantic Sky exclaimed, oblivious to what it sounded like.

"So you heard voices saying we need to help Bulma?" asked Oolong after a pause.

"Yes?"

"Kid, the heat must be getting to you, go back inside and get a drink or something," Oolong told him, and Sky reluctantly went back inside, followed by Goku.

"I don't get it, I didn't hear anything, are you sure you heard Bulma ask for help?" Goku asked.

"Positive!" a frustrated Sky replied. Why didn't anyone believe him?

"Alright, I believe you!" Goku exclaimed.

"What? So easily? You don't think I'm crazy?"

"You don't look crazy…"

Just then, a loud thwack was heard from one of the walls, and Sky turned to see that most of the people in the café had gathered around one of the walls.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Bzzt! The wanted posters are being updated, Stay back, Bzzt! Bzzt!", replied the smallest of the floating magnetic creatures.

Surely enough, a second later the wall, which turned out to be a revolving panel, flipped back, revealing the wanted posters on it.

"Huh, I wonder why we didn't notice that earlier…" Goku asked.

"Probably because we were busy trying not to fall over." remarked Sky.

Goku laughed, "Yeah, that sounds about right…" he trailed off and stared at the wall.

"What is it, what did you see-" asked Sky before he saw it himself.

Right in the center of the board a new wanted poster had been added. Sky felt sick as eh recognized the outlaw whose picture was on the poster. It was Drowzee…

They turned to one another, faces pale.

"Bulma's in trouble…" Goku muttered, momentarily unable to move.

"We have to go!" responded Sky as they ran outside once again, "I knew I wasn't crazy!"

"Kinto'un!" Goku shouted, summoning his faithful cloud to his side, which he quickly leapt up onto and took to the sky.

"Hey, wait up, I can't fly on that cloud, you know!" Sky called after him, but it was no use. Goku was already too high to hear him and headed in the direction of Mt. Bristle in the distance.

"Why can't I have a cloud to ride on? Of course I have to go everywhere on foot…" Sky muttered before running after him as fast as his feet could take him.

* * *

Some time later, Sky arrived at the foot of Mount Bristle.

"Dang, this mountain is steep… how some Goku gets to go straight to fight the bad guy and I'm stuck climbing some stupid mountain?" he muttered to himself, stumbling over a rock as he ran up the mountainside, only to find himself at the entrance to some sort of cave.

"What the- there's a set of stairs in there," he exclaimed, "who builds a set of stairs in a cave on a mountain in the middle of nowhere?! Sheesh, and people say I'm the crazy one… well, might as well go in there, maybe I'll get lucky and it'll take me to the summit."

And with that Sky set off into the mysterious dungeon, completely unaware of what it truly was.

* * *

Meanwhile, near the summit of Mt. Bristle, Bulma and Drowzee had just reached the summit of Mt. Bristle. Looking around, Bulma noticed the dragon ball Drowzee had mentioned was nowhere in sight. She frowned, reaching for where she kept her radar, before realizing it was gone. Dang it, she had left it in the car with that perverted pig!

Turning to Drowzee, she asked, "I don't get it, didn't you say the dragon ball would be around here. Where did you see it."

Drowzee looked at her for a second, then smiled, "No, I'm afraid the dragon ball isn't here at all."

Bulma was confused, what had he meant by that?, "Isn't here? What do you mean? Didn't you say it was around here? What's going on?"

Drowzee's smile only widened, "This was all a trick, I deceived you, there never was a dragonball in these parts.

Bulma's eyes widened. She'd been played for a fool! Why hadn't she checked the radar before following him up the mountain? Now she was stuck up there, and Goku and Sky were still back at the café! She was all alone.

Oh well, alone or not, Bulma wasn't the type to just give up without trying her hardest. She attempted to reach for her gun when she realized something else had happened. She couldn't move at all, it was like she was being held in place. What was this guy?

Drowzee began to approach her, "I've heard the legends of the dragon balls myself, and when I saw you with one I just had to have it," his eyes gleamed, imagining what he could use the legendary wish the balls granted. Money, power, he wouldn't have to live the life of an outlaw anymore, he could have anything he wanted!

"Now I'm going to take that dragon ball of yours for myself. I'd say don't move, but my psychic powers are already holding you in place."

Bulma was terrified, what would a creep like him do to a pretty girl like her, her ego not leaving her even in her moment of peril. Mustering all the strength she could muster, she managed to move her lips and shout as loud as she could, "h-h-Help!

* * *

Meanwhile, on the other side of the planet, several figures carefully through the woods, stopping every once in awhile to bend over or look around, as if they were looking for something. After a period of time continuing this pattern, one of the smaller creatures, far smaller and thinner than a human, with eyes that gleamed in the moonlight, spoke up.

"Master, are you sure we've come to the right place?"

The leader of the group, a massive figure that floated above the ground with no legs to support it on, turned and gazed upon its minion with its single eye before answering.

"Yes. I'm positive, they're here, they have to be. We must hurry to catch them, before they can do any damage. I shudder to think what would happen if we failed our lord."

With that they continued their search throughout the night.

* * *

 **A.N. Some things I have to say before I continue. One, there will only be one other time skip over events in this series, and also I first considered making the pokemon characters humans at first so they would fit in the db world, then realized with the wolf man and other characters perfectly normal, they wouldn't stand out. Sorry I took so long to write this, was struggling with inspiration on what to write.**

 **Power Levels:**

 **Goku: 25**

 **(zenkai after fighting Yamcha): 27**

 **Sky: 19**

 **Yamcha: 17**

 **Drowzee: 21**

 **Oolong: 3**

 **Puar: 2**


	4. The Mystery Dungeon

**Chapter 3**

After entering the room at the top of the stairs, the first thing Sky heard was the ominous sound of something closing behind him. He turned, and the stairs he had walked up were no longer there, replaced by the barren stone floor of the room he was currently in.

"Curse the dome…" Sky muttered, "I should have known not to trust convenient shortcuts, that's the first rule of exploring!" What the other rules were, Sky had no idea. But he at least remembered that one, but only after it would have been useful. Of course.

"Well I guess there's no way to go now but forward," he said, looking around him, "or left, or right, or backwards… how did I get lost going in a straight line?! Curse this strange place!"

He took a better look around him after shouting a string of all the curse words he knew at whoever might be listening, which was quite a few. After Sky calmed down, he took a closer look around at the room he was in. The room was roughly rectangular, with solid stone walls and a stone floor, and dimly lit, which was surprising considering there was no visible light source. In front of him and on the wall to his left there were two corridors, which probably led to similar rooms to the one he was in. In one corner an apple was lying on the floor, and in another there was some kind of large seed.

Realizing he was probably going to take a long time getting through, Sky walked over to the apple and ate it in a few swift bites, then did the same to the seed on the other side of the room. To say the least, that was a mistake. His eyes widened and his face reddened within an instant, and as Sky opened his mouth, an explosion burst out, flinging him into a wall.

"Owwww…" he muttered as he picked himself up from the wall, "what's with this crazy place anyways? What happened to good old physics anyways?"

Stumbling slightly, Sky walked back to the center of the room to resume his quest to get through the unusual cave.

"I have to hurry, Goku's out there probably fighting that guy out there and I got myself stuck in this cave." and then, as an afterthought, "I should probably stop talking to myself, people might think I'm crazy."

 _Let's see, which way should I go?_ He thought to himself, _left or straight… left… straight… left… oh screw it I'll just go in random directions. Thinking is too hard._

With that he set off straight ahead, and, after a while, arrived in a room exactly like the first, except for the size of the room and the random items, how they had gotten there was a question for another time, scattered on the floor. Picking up a blue colored berry and a second seed, which Sky intuitively knew was different from the first- was it the way it smelled?- Sky continued into the next hallway he saw and into a third room.

"There! The stairs!" he exclaimed upon looking around the nest room, "I found the way out! Huh, that was easier than I thought it would be."

He climbed them, only to find himself in another room, the way back once again closing behind him.

Sky facepalmed at this, "Of course, of course I had to jinx it…"

He looked around. The room was almost identical to all the others he had been in, but once again the items and direction of the hallways had changed.

"This is going to take awhile…" he said under his breath.

Just as he was about to leave the room, he tripped on a rock and fell on his face.

Rubbing his head as he stood back up, Sky said to himself, "That was embarrassing, good thing nobody saw that…" before looking back to the rock he had tripped over.

The rock sat in the middle of the floor, sticking out like a sore thumb on the otherwise flat ground. Suddenly, two pairs of eyes opened on it, and two arms lifted from it as it began to levitate slightly above the ground, an angry expression on the face of the strange rock creature.

"What the-" was all Sky had time to say before the living rock charged him, swinging its heavy fist to where he was standing. He leapt above it a second before it struck, and used its momentum to kick it into a nearby wall.

The creature picked itself up, looking only angrier, before resuming its assault.

The amount of power behind its attacks was apparent, but it's movements were slow, and Sky had an easy enough time dodging its attacks, occasionally retaliating with his own, but these only seemed to phaze its solid stone body.

"This isn't working," Sky said to himself as he dodged another swing, "it's too tough, I'm going to have to use its strength against it if I want to harm the thing."

It took a few more seconds for the perfect opportunity to arise. The creature swung its arm directly at Sky, and, while its arm was extended, he grabbed it with both of his own and threw it behind him, slamming it into the ground.

While it was still stunned, Sky leapt into the air, and mimicking the stance he had seen the old hermit use back on Fire Mountain, shouted "Kamehameha!" as an azure beam shot from his outstretched arms into the living stone lying on the ground. When the smoke cleared, Sky saw it was knocked out.

"Wow…" he gasped, breathing heavily, "that thing was tougher than I thought. I'll have to be more careful from now on as I go through this place."

Sky ran again, although this time at a slower pace and keeping an eye on his surroundings, should he run into more foes.

He entered a room, this time only having had to go through two rooms to reach the stairs. Two birds swept down to intercept him, but he knocked them aside and ran on without bothering to knock them out, running up the stairs before they could follow to save energy.

He was in yet another room. Sky sighed, this was going to be a long journey.

* * *

Meanwhile at the top of Mt. Bristle, Drowzee was still approaching Bulma, a gleam in his eyes as he walked towards the girl he held with his psychic powers. Soon the dragon balls would be his!

Buma tried desperately to move out of the way, but it was to no avail. Was this the way her journey was going to end, in failure, her dragon balls robbed from her by an ordinary criminal who had played her for a fool. She cursed how gullible she had been once again, she was supposed to be the brains in the group, why hadn't she checked the radar and seen there was no dragon ball in the area? To this, she had no answer.

However, just as all seemed lost, a red staff shot out of nowhere and hit Drowzee on the back of the head, startling him and releasing Bulma from his powers, while its owner landed on the ground behind him.

"Goku!" Bulma cried out, you're here! Then upon realizing it, "Where's Sky? Did he come too?"

"Oh," remarked Goku, only now realizing he had left Sky behind in his rush, "he must be behind somewhere, I think he'll be here soon."

Cursing under his breath and rubbing the bruise on the back of his head, Drowzee turned to face the newcomer. "Stupid brat," he sneered, "I won't let some monkey tailed kid interfere with my plans, I will have the dragon balls, I was too close to let myself be stopped now."

Goku shifted into a defensive stance, and Drowzee did the same. For a moment, neither moved a muscle, sizing each other up, looking for weaknesses and where the other would strike first.

Drowzee made the first move, rushing forward and feigning a punch, which Goku easily sidestepped, before suddenly changing stances and slamming his body into Goku, using his superior size to knock Goku into the ground.

Goku was up in a heartbeat, and retaliated with a flurry of punches, which at first Drowzee easily blocked with his own hands. After a while, however, it became apparent that they were not quite evenly matched. Drowzee, unable to keep up with the speed of Son Gohan's grandson, was beginning to be worn down. Swearing a little, he jumped back, creating some distance between the two.

"I'll give you some credit kid," he said, smiling slightly, as if he knew something the others didn't, "you're pretty strong, I never thought I'd see a kid with your level of strength."

"Why is he smiling?" Bulma wondered, "he's losing, so why is he acting like he's got this in the bag? Is it some kind of act?"

"But…" Drowzee continued his monologue, "there's one key difference between you and me kid. I've got nothing to lose!"

He shouted the last part before turning to face Bulma and gathering a strange purple energy in his palms, "CONFUSION!" Drowzee shouted before launching the wave of energy directly at her.

The attack seemed to move in slow motion as it moved towards Bulma, who remained immobile in shock, like a deer caught in the headlights of a car, not moving an inch.

Just then, Goku shouted, "Bulma!" before launching himself in front of the attack, taking the majority of it head on.

It hit like a truck, and Goku, who hadn't had the time to defend himself, was shot backwards. He stumbled back to his feet, rubbing his head, it felt as if the attack had hit attacked his young mind directly instead of his body, and his vision blurred as he stared at Drowzee. "That was a cheap shot…" was all he said before he fell on his face, too tired to get back up."

"Goku!" Bulma cried out as she ran to his side, while their opponent laughed in the background.

"Hah, that ought to teach the kid not to meddle in the affairs of adults," Drowzee remarked smugly as he approached Bulma, "hand over the dragon balls, unless you want to end up like your friend."

Bulma took a few steps back, Drowzee's psychic powers required his full strength to use, and he was too worn out from his fight with Goku to use them anymore to stop her.

However, the terrain was too rugged and steep for Bulma to make an easy escape, and they both knew that. Bulma cursed inwardly, clenching her fist in frustration. Where was Sky? And what of that perverted pig, Oolong? Surely he could at least have done something.

Just then, a large rock was hurled through the air and struck Drowzee in the head. Drowzee flinched and turned to its source, rubbing his head for the second time that day.

"Oh, so it's the other tailed kid from the bar. Really, a gravelerock?" Drowzee called out, "Is that the best you can do?"

Sky stepped out and faced Drowzee, trying to ignore the various cuts he had received when climbing through the odd cave system, and prepared to fight Drowzee.

"It's your fault you weren't paying attention," responded Sky, "and you're going to pay for what you did to my friend."

"Ah, so you're going to begin that cliché speech, huh" he said casually, rolling his eyes, "I may not be a well known criminal, but that's not the first time I've heard those words."

"Cliché, huh? Says the one monologuing on what his plans are before he follows them through."

"Touché"

Sky launched himself at Drowzee, unleashing a flurry of punches and kicks as fast as he could muster, painfully aware of how much energy he had lost getting through the cave up the mountain, and knowing if he didn't end things soon, he'd wear out before Drowzee.

However, his movements were sloppy, and Drowzee was quick to capitalize on the openings Sky left in his defences. A swift kick brought his legs out from under him, and Sky felt a sharp pain as Drowzee grabbed him by the tail- darn it! He had completely forgotten he had that thing, he left it wide open!- and lifted Sky into the air.

Sky's eyes widened as he felt his energy leaving him, everything consumed by the overwhelming pain in his tail as Drowzee's grip tightened, lifting him higher into the air.

"So, you're tail's some kind of weakness, huh?" Drowzee remarked, "good to know. It's ironic really, with me worn out perhaps you would have had the strength to beat me, had you not apparently stumbled into the mystery dungeon on the way here."

Sky's widened, as his mind made the realization over the pain, _so that's what the place was call_ \- he never finished the thought as Drowzee hurled him through the air to lie next to Goku in a heap.

Meanwhile, Goku had finally regained the strength to stand, and faced Drowzee with a hard look in his eyes. "Hey!" he shouted, "that was a dirty move you pulled! Don't you have the strength to fight fair?"

Drowzee looked amused as he looked at him, breathing heavily from the energy he had used in his fights, "Fair? Kid, this is the real world. There is no fair, no right, no wrong, only the powerful and the weak, and I'll do anything to remain the one with power."

"NO! You're wrong!" Goku shouted back, defiant to the end. Pulling Sky to his feet, he looked at him, "Come on, we have to attack together. This is our only chance."

Cupping their hands together, the two spiky haired boys chanted in unison, a glowing blue energy building in their palms as they did.

"KA!"

"ME!"

"HA!"

The energy began to swell and grow larger.

"ME!"

They brought their arms in front of them.

"HA"

Two beams shot forwards and collided together, growing in size and strength as they reached Drowzee. He tried desperately to hold off the attacks, but combined they were far too powerful, and the energy overwhelmed him, blasting him back and creating a large explosion. When the dust cleared, Drowzee lay in the center of a crater, his body smoking and unconscious.

With their opponent defeated, both Goku and Sky collapsed to the ground, their bodies finally allowed to give in to their injuries.

Bulma ran over to them as quickly as she could and picked them both up, struggling to hold the weight of both of them as she walked slowly over to the crater where Drowzee lay.

Just then, Bulma heard a sound behind her and turned to see the three metal, floating creatures from the bar hovering up the mountain. They paused when they reached her, the largest staying to address Bulma as one of the others went down to handcuff Drowzee (somehow) and bring him up.

The larger creature, a floating dome with eyes and two magnets for arms, spoke up and thanked Bulma, "Bzzt! I'm officer Magnezone, the head of the police in this area. Me and my comrades would like to thank you and your friends for bringing this outlaw to justice. Bzzt! In the past few years, the number of outlaws has increased dramatically, we believe this may have to do with the distortions in the flow of time recently."

"The flow of time getting out of whack?" Bulma asked, startled, her research had suggested something like that may have been happening, but she wasn't sure how something like that was even possible. "You mean the same thing that's causing all the mystery dungeons to appear across the world?"

"Precisely," responded Magnezone, "the world is certainly becoming a much more dangerous place. Bzzt! It makes our job all the harder. Now, if you would allow me and my fellow officers to escort carry your friends down the mountain, you're in no condition to be carrying them yourself."

"Oh, of course, thank you," responded Bulma, handing Goku and Sky to Magnezone and another officer, who introduced himself as Magneton, respectively.

And so they made their way back down the mountain, making sure to steer clear of the mystery dungeon Sky had been so foolish to enter unaware and unprepared, arriving back at Treasure Town.

As Bulma got into the car, placing Goku and Sky in the back after dragging Oolong from where he had been attempting to spy on a group of girls and had managed to miss the entire commotion. Bulma breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, it was finally over. At least she had only one dragon ball left to go before she would have all seven, then she could finally make her wish.

With that, Bulma started up the capsule car and sped off into the horizon, a grumbling pig at her side and two sleeping boys in the back.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to her, a woman and a humanoid dog were watching her with a pair of binoculars, and a certain desert bandit still trailed them from the distance.

"Shu!," said the woman, "Tell Emperor Pilaf we've found the people who gathered the rest of the dragon balls."

* * *

Meanwhile, to the south, a lone figure approached the entrance to a cave, looking down into its depths.

"Interesting. So it's located at the end of a Mystery Dungeon then, I should have known. I suppose the other four must be as well."

It cast a quick look over its shoulder, to make sure it wasn't being watched. Then, it took a leap and dived into the depths of the cave.

* * *

 **Well, the chapter with Drowzee turned out much longer than I had expected it to be, so I split it into two parts. At any rate the next chapter will be the last in the hunt for the dragon balls arc, then it'll skip ahead to the Tenkaichi tournament, and again into the red ribbon army saga. That's all.**

 **Power Levels:**

 **Goku- 27**

 **(injured)- 18**

 **(zenkai)- 29**

 **Sky- 19**

 **(weakened after dungeon)- 16**

 **(injured)- 11**

 **(zenkai)- 23**

 **Drowzee- 21**

 **(injured)- 17**


	5. The Full Moon

**This marks the end of the hunt for the dragonballs arc and the beginning of the main plot of this story, sorry for the wait I've been quite busy with school and all for the past few months. May or may not have lost motivation at one point, but I will finish this, I've read too many unfinished stories and I don't want this to be one of them. Oh, and if anyone knows ways I can try to improve my writing style, please review or pm, still trying to find a writing style that fits me.**

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

They were in the car again, but Sky didn't want to stop somewhere else again. He was still recovering from his trek through the accursed cave, the "Mystery Dungeon" as Bulma had called it. She had offered to tell him more about it, but Sky hadn't really paid attention. Why would he want to go anywhere like that cave. It was like an unending labyrinth. He wasn't surprised people frequently got trapped and needed to be rescued from them.

The scenery had changed as they approached the location of the last dragonball, ordinary trees giving way to enormous mushrooms, which, to the disappointment of Goku and Sky, weren't edible. Goku was in the seat in front of him, arguing with Oolong about something or another. Sky was growing restless, the moment to summon the dragon was almost here! He cast another look at Bulma's radar. No… He waited as long as he could bear (about five minutes) and checked again. Still no...

Suddenly' Sky's internal monologue was brought to an abrupt halt as an explosion rocked the car, throwing them to the ground.

"Oww…" Sky muttered as he rubbed his head in pain, groggily regaining his bearings as he looked around for the others, who were scattered around him in various states of confusion.

Before he could ask anyone what in Helix had happened, a four legged robot dropped from the sky, shouted something about the dragon balls, and leapt back into the sky as they watched, dumbstruck.

"I knew taking a bite out of one of those mushroom trees was a bad idea…" Sky heard Oolong mutter under his breathe.

"Goku!" Bulma shouted amidst the confusion, "What are you standing around for, after him!"

Goku, not needing to be told twice, summoned his flying nimbus and took to the skies after the strange creature.

Meanwhile, as they waited for Goku to return, Bulma mused to herself, "I guess I shouldn't be surprised that others know about the balls, they were chronicled in ancient documents after all."

"Aww man," Sky whined as the realization hit him, "now I won't be able to see the dragon!"

Before Bulma could yell at him, probably to tell him that wasn't the point, Goku returned, "Hey guys, I'm back! I took him out!"

"And the dragon balls?" asked Bulma hopefully.

"They weren't there."

"Then what are you doing back here?" Bulma exclaimed, "They've probably got the last one! That means they have all seven!"

"I've still got mine," Goku casually replied.

Bulma perked up instantly, her confidence returning as if the whole thing had been planned. "Fools!" she shouted at the sky, "You've missed one."

Sky edged closer to Goku, lowering his voice, "Who is she talking to? I think Bulma's finally lost it…"

"Huh?" Goku seemed confused, "What'd she lose?"

"Just- nevermind…"

"Hey," interjected Oolong, "How are we supposed to get to them without a car?"

"Don't worry," Bulma replied, "I got some extra capsules in the last town, they're right in my bag… with the dragon balls… that was stolen…"

Before Bulma could break down yet again, none other than Yamcha appeared, Puar at his side, casually (or at least seemingly, Sky could see sweat accumulating on him, although he wondered why) remarking, "my my my, what a _total_ coincidence, what are you doing here?"

"Yamcha?" Sky asked, confused. Hadn't they fought him earlier? However, nobody else seemed to pay that any mind, and they all climbed into the car when he offered his help in retrieving the dragon balls.

* * *

It was some time before they reached their destination, they'd have been fools to miss it. But seriously, who builds a castle in the middle of nowhere? So, upon reaching the entrance, they did the only logical thing a group of people trying to sneak into a building do. They walked through the front door, and into the corridor underneath the castle.

While they attempted to find their way through the labyrinth underneath, Sky noticed something out of place. An arrow. A yellow arrow, painted on the floor, with another one pointing to the right at the end of the hallway.

"Hey, there's an arrow on the floor," he called out to the others, "and another one over there, there's gotta be something in that direction!"

"Yeah, let's go!" responded Goku, and together the two ran in the direction the arrows pointed them, with the others following closely… right into a trap. In hindsight Sky felt like an idiot, but in the moment he'd been shocked when the wall closed behind them, trapping them in a square stone room, the walls far too thick to get through.

"We're trapped!" yelled Yamcha as he began banging on the walls, "there's no way out!"

"I can't even punch through it," commented Goku.

After a few minutes of panicking, futile escape attempts, and bad puns on the part of Yamcha, a face appeared on a screen located on the wall that had fallen to trap them. On the screen they saw a short blue person, wearing a hat marked with a single star.

"Hey you," shouted the angry figure, "I am Pilaf the Great!"

"So you're the one who stole _my_ Dragon Balls!" Bulma barked back at the diminutive figure.

"All… except for one, my dear!" Pilaf replied smugly.

"Hey," Goku whispered to Sky as Pilaf rambled on, "If we break that window we can get out of here!"

"Yeah, let's do it while he's distracted!"

Meanwhile, Pilaf had continued, "You still have the ball with four stars on it! Give it to-" his speech was interrupted by Sky's fist smashing into the screen shattering it. However, when the glass shards fell away, all that was behind it was a wall.

"That was weird," noted Sky, "what kind of weirdo builds a window in front of a wall?"

"You think he might have been trapped in it?" questioned Goku.

"You idiots!" scolded Yamcha, "That was a television!"

Meanwhile, in another section of the castle, Pilaf and his two minions stared at the screen blankly after what had just happened.

"Lord Pilaf," remarked Mai, "they destroyed our security camera."

"I know Mai."

"What should we do?" asked the second minion, a small bipedal dog dressed in a ninja costume by the name of Shu.

"Knock them out! I won't have them cutting me off and getting away with it!"

"Yes Lord Pilaf!"

Meanwhile, back with the prisoners, Bulma was lecturing Sky on the key differences between a window and a television -a concept he was having a hard time getting his head around, didn't the people trapped in the little box want to be free?- when a thick white gas began to pour into the room. "Uh, guys, does anyone have a bad feeling about this?" was the last thing any of them heard before their vision blurred into darkness.

It was several minutes before they woke up once more, but when they did, everything became crystal clear. While they had been knocked out, one of their captors had walked in and taken Goku's dragon ball, and they were probably preparing to summon the dragon as they spoke.

"Goku!" a panicked Bulma cried, "we have to do something! They're gonna steal my wish!"

"But how?" asked Yamcha, "we're trapped!"

Sky shrugged and turned to Goku, "we could try the last thing we did when punching something really hard didn't work."

"You mean the double Kamehameha?"

"Yeah that thing!"

Without another word the two boys shifted their focus to the wall, settling into stances that mirrored one another as they began gathering the necessary energy.

"Ka…" They brought their hands behind them...

"Me…" they cupped their hands in unison...

"Ha…" a pale blue light flickered into existence in each of their palms…

"Me…" they slowly brought the energy forward as it radiated outwards…

"HA!" the two energy beams merged as they rushed forwards, spiralling together as they slammed into the solid stone wall, the rock giving way as the energy collided with it.

When the smoke cleared, a hole had been punched straight through the outside wall of the palace, allowing the group a view of the outside world. It wasn't that large, but that was to be expected, after all, even with their combined powers, Sky and Goku were still two amateurs firing a move they had known for only a few days. But it had done the job, the hole was just big enough to fit a person through, if tightly, and just big enough to glimpse the Pilaf gang gathered on the ground not far away, standing before the gathered dragon balls, too focused on what they were about to do to even notice the explosion of rock behind them. They were about to summon the dragon.

It took a few critical moments for Bulma to get over her excitement of breaking free and realize what was going on.

"The dragon balls! They're about to use them, we have to stop them!"

Her cry of alarm was enough to snap the two boys out of their daze, and they quickly scrambled forward, Goku crawling through first with Sky not far behind, and the two landed shakily on the ground below, while above Yamcha struggled to get through the hole next. But they were too late.

"SHENRON, I SUMMON YOU!" Pilaf's voice boomed through the night, filling them with dread as all eyes turned to the dragon balls, gathered together in preparation for this moments. The golden pulses of light emanating from the balls began to flash faster and faster, until they came to resemble seven miniature stars, then these too grew in brilliance until they became one single light shining on the ground. A sound not far from a crack of thunder boomed, and a bolt of lightning shot up from the orbs, cracking as it rose into the air, twisting and turning as did so, growing ever longer and gradually more sudden, until the light faded, and an enormous green dragon was revealed.

It lowered its head, casting its glowing red eyes down upon Pilaf as its voice boomed, echoing throughout the land, "I AM THE ETERNAL DRAGON! SPEAK NOW AND STATE YOUR WISH!"

Goku and Sky had paused, staring at Shenron, before Sky pulled his friend forwards, shouting, "Come on, we have to stop him!"

Goku followed at a sprint, his eyes never leaving the enormous creature, before he spotted something behind him and paused, transfixed by what he saw. Sky stopped too, and for a moment his eyes followed to where Goku was staring. The Full Moon. Their hearts began to beat in their chests, and slowly their vision faded to red.

* * *

Meanwhile Pilaf and his two followers stood before the mighty Shenron, pure joy sketched on their faces as they gazed upon their triumph.

Pilaf raised his hands in a dramatic gesture, his eyes never leaving Shenron, "Finally, Emperor Pilaf will rule the world. Now! Shenron! I wish-"

Whatever he had to say was cut off by two earsplitting roars behind him. Pilaf froze, and gradually turned to face what had made the sound. That was his first mistake.

Pilaf could only stare in horror as he looked upon what could only be described as two enormous monkeys towering over his palace. One of them paused as he made eye contact with it, its eyes narrowing as they zeroed in on its new prey. Then it lept.

"AH! M-m-make them go away!" Pilaf stammered out, and not a moment too soon. Just as the beast reached him, its arm outstretched to crush him, Shenron's eyes glowed with an unearthly light. Its form flickered, and it, along with the other, flickered once, then disappeared.

"YOUR WISH IS GRANTED!" Shenron's voice echoed through the land as it faded, the dragon balls rising up into the air, before scattering apart, flying to the seven corners of the globe as they left golden trails in their wake.

And then, everything was silent.

* * *

The next morning, Goku and Sky awoke on an uninhabited island on the far side of the globe, neither of them giving any notice to their mysteriously vanished clothing as they groggily got to their feet.

"Ugh…" Sky muttered as he rubbed his eyes, "what happened?"

Goku stretched for a bit, his mind slowly waking up before everything suddenly clicked, "It was the monster!"

"The what?"

"The monster! The one my grandpa told me comes out if I look at the full moon! We saw the moon!"

"That sounds silly Goku, are you sure about that?"

"Positive! It squashed my grandpa! I accidentally looked at the full moon one night and found him in its footprint!"

"...Huh. Well that explains all the toppled trees. You think it's what carried us out here, I don't remember being so close to the ocean…"

It was a few minutes before the two realized they were not alone, and turned to face the figure that had been silently been watching them the whole time. It wasn't human, that mush was obvious. It was grew for the most part, and floated slightly above the ground- it lacked legs to stand on, its body ending at its torso, and towered above them, easily taller than any other person they had encountered so far, save the Ox King of course.

It looked them over once with its single eye before it finally spoke up, its voice seeming to come from the same dark hole its single red eye was visible through. "Hello there. I must admit, I was quite impressed with how powerful you two are."

"...What?" was the only response he got from that, after a long pause.

"Allow me to elaborate. I witnessed the two of you, errr… surviving your encounter with the giant monster… and I'd like your help in tracking down a dangerous criminal from wreaking havoc across the world."

Once again, he only got two blank stares.

"Oh! How rude of me, perhaps I should've introduced myself first. My name is Dusknoir."

* * *

Deep underground, a figure darted through a narrow corridor, leaping forward as each step carried it closer to the dim light emanating from the end of the passageway. Another being darted out in front of it growling, but the figure paid it no notice, merely illuminating one of its arms with a faint green glow and swatting away the creature that dared try to stop it without the slightest bit of effort.

The light grew somewhat brighter, and the slim figure stepped out into it, entering into a large room, illuminated by an object hovering in the center, emitting some otherworldly form of light.

The creature, which resembled a velociraptor, with a green body and red underside, and a long leaf on its head which vaguely resembled some sort of hair or feather and several smaller, sharp looking ones on its arms and legs, grinned.

"Finally," Grovyle exclaimed, fixated by the object, a floating, six toothed light blue gear with an odd light emanating from it, "after all my preparation, I can finally begin my plan. I can't let anything stop me now!"

And, of course, that's exactly what someone decided to do. As Grovyle began to cross the room, a figure dropped from the ceiling and blocked his path. Grovyle's eyes widened in surprise, if only briefly. The being that dared to oppose him was none other than a carbon copy of himself!

"Who are you?" demanded Grovyle.

"That's what I should be asking you." responded his adversary.

"Hmph, that's none of your concern. Stand aside."

" What exactly are you, you defeated the my soldiers without even trying. Why are you here?"

"If you must know, where I come from I'm a rather infamous thief. And why I'm here? Right behind you."

His doppleganger turned behind him, and, seeing what he stood in front of, looked back at Grovyle with obvious alarm, "A-a-are you insane?" he stammered, "that's a Time Gear! Do you have any idea what happens if one is taken from it's place?"

"Perfectly. Now would you please stand aside, I don't want to hurt you."

"You're mad! Not hurt me? If you steal that Time Gear time itself will stop in this area! I won't let you! I, Ditto, protector of this time gear, won't let you get any further!"

"Ditto, huh? That explains it. They say you can copy not just the appearance, but the strength and abilities of your opponents. I suppose you think thats enough to defeat me."

"No, but you can't defeat me either. You'll wear yourself out trying, but I don't need to win, just stop you from getting past me.

"Hmph, we'll see about that."

Not waiting a second longer, Grovyle lept into the air, the leaves on his arms glowing with energy as he brought them down on his opponent. Ditto, however, was just as fast, and countered with the same technique, the two leaf blades rebounding off one another as Grovyle jumped a few feet back, analyzing his doppleganger.

Ditto, on the other hand, took the moment to try to reason with his adversary, "Why could you possibly want to steal the time gears?! If time stops, you'll turn the world into a living hell!"

"If time stops in this area, so be it. I won't be stopped I've come too far."

"That's not an option, our powers are even."

"We shall see."

Ditto made the first move this time, leading with a right hook which Grovyle caught, using Ditto's momentum to throw him over his shoulder.

Not giving him time to recover, Grovyle charged the still recovering Ditto and hit him in the stomach. Ditto doubled over, and retaliated with a blow to the face, then followed up with another Leaf Blade, which Grovyle hastily countered.

They both took a half step back wearily, eyeing one another, each daring the other to make a move. Finally, they struck, their fists colliding mid air as each perfectly mirrored the movements of their opponent.

Ditto watched his opponent carefully, looking for the frustration in his eyes that he was all too familiar with. Instead, he saw an almost serene look, as if Grovyle has everything under control. And a moment later, he realized why. While Ditto was tiring with each successive blow, Grovyle wasn't. But that shouldn't have been possible, they were evenly matched, Grovyle's blows had been no stronger than his! But as their fight drew on the difference became more and more obvious.

Ditto began to grow desperate, knowing somehow, unlike any opponent he had ever fought before in his long life, Grovyle had outmatched him. His attacks grew frantic, he swung clumsily, and his guard clumsy. Finally, with one last Leaf Blade to the chest Ditto was too slow to block, he was downed.

"H-how?" Ditto asked, stunned by what had occurred.

"It's simple, really, I'm surprised you didn't realize it. Every time our fists collided, I used my Absorb technique to steal a fraction of the energy you lost. It was too slow for you to notice, but as the fight dragged on I was able to use your stolen energy to give myself the extra stamina to outlast you. If you had realized, you could have done the same and matched me."

"D-damn it all…" Ditto muttered, "I'm sorry Dialga… I failed you… you trusted me… and I was too weak…"

Ditto's form began to melt, in a sense, as he lost consciousness, changing back into the purple blob he was ordinarily. Grovyle, however, spent no time to marvel at this, instead his gaze had already returned to the mystic gear floating in the center of the room.

He hesitated for a moment as he reached it, his hand hovering just over it, not yet touching it but not pulling away. A look flashed across his features. What was it? Regret? Resignation? Grovyle shook himself.

"This has to be done."

And, not giving himself time to second guess himself, Grovyle snatched the Time Gear, and sprinted back the way he came as be pocketed it in a pouch on his side.

There was a ripple in the air behind him, where the Time Gear had once floated, a single pulse of energy, then another. Suddenly, a sphere of darkness appeared where the artifact once was, and spread outwards, and everything it touched froze in place, never to move again.

It had begun.

* * *

 **A/N: And that marks the end of the introductory arc. Glad I finally got around to putting Dusknoir and Grovyle into the story. I was initially planning on keeping it closer to the story of Dragon Ball in the beginning, but in the end I decided for a more AU approach.**

 **Power Levels:**

 **Goku- 29**

 **(Oozaru)- 290**

 **Sky- 23**

 **(Oozaru)- 230**

 **Pilaf- 2**

 **Mai- 5**

 **Shu- 4**

 **Dusknoir- 350**

 **Grovyle- 305**

 **Ditto- 50**

 **(transformed)- 305**


	6. It All Makes Sense Now

**If you haven't noticed yet, I'm incredibly gifted at the art of getting sidetracked, but I should be able to return to my monthly updating schedule soon enough. I've also changed the summary… again, because I'm still not satisfied with it, not sure if I ever will be. Also this story really needs a beta reader to help improve things and whatnot, so if you're interested in being one hit me up with a PM.**

* * *

 **Chapter 5**

The two boys continued to stare blankly at Dusknoir, who sighed as he collected his thoughts, this was going to take awhile.

"So," he continued after a lengthy pause, "how much of that did you two get? Anything other than my name?"

The two boys standing across from him shook their heads, their faces a mix between confusion and interest in what the strange being wanted to tell them.

"Alright, I suppose I should start from the beginning then…"

They both nodded, and Dusknoir continued, "As I just told you, my name is Dusknoir, and I happened to have overseen your… encounter with the giant monster."

"Wait, you saw it?" Goku piped up.

"Yes, I saw the errr… singular monster… but that's besides the point. I've come to warn you two of a grave danger to your planet."

Sky yawned at this point, stretching his legs as he did so, "And? You've been going in circles since you got here, get to the point before I forget what we're talking about again."

Dusknoir groaned, "Please stay patient. What I am about to tell you is of the utmost importance, it is crucial that I explain to you the details one at a time." He paused again, making sure both boys were paying attention (Sky had been kicking rocks absentmindedly, but looked up when Dusknoir fixed his gaze upon him), and continued (again), "As most people are aware, there exist scattered across the Earth five mystical objects known as the time gears."

The two stared at Dusknoir, before one tentatively began to open his mouth.

"Neither of you two know what time gears are, do you."

Two blank nods of affirmative.

"It seems I'm going to need to backtrack further, let's start with that. Currently, time is getting messed up bit by bit across the world."

"Oh yeah!" Goku chimed in, thrilled he finally knew what was being talked about, if only somewhat, "Bulma mentioned that once! She says that's what's causing the Mystery Dungeons to pop up all over the place!"

"Exactly, and each of the Time Gears is located deep within a Mystery Dungeon, which we will be going over soon enough." Sky gulped and unconsciously took a step back, his mind flashing back to his own experience in the chaotic places. "The time gears are believed to play a role in this problem. Each of the relics is hidden in an isolated place somewhere in the world."

"You mean like the Dragon Balls?"

"In a sense yes, but not entirely. The dragon balls scatter at random, and must be gathered to fulfill their function. The Time Gears do not move, and it is crucial that they remain where they belong to preserve the flow of time itself. Each one protects time and keeps time flowing properly in its region."

"But…" Sky interjected, "what happens if a region loses its time gear?"

Dusknoir's voice dropped an octave, "If a Time Gear is removed from a region, the very flow of time in that region will stop as well. For that reason, most individuals try their best to avoid disturbing the time gears. Fortunately, that is an easy enough task, as no one quite knows where the time gears are. Until now?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Recently, one of the Time Gears was stolen, by a being who refers to himself as Grovyle. Time, where he stole it, has come to a standstill. This criminal, Grovyle, remains at large even now, plotting to steal the other Time Gears, until he has gathered all five."

"Wait," Sky asked, "How do you already know about this? Wouldn't we have heard about something that bad ourselves when we were on our journey?"

"That is because… I have been tracking Grovyle for quite some time."

"You knew him before?" Goku asked.

"That is correct. I do know Grovyle from before he committed that treacherous deed. The reason for this… may be beyond your belief, but it is the truth. First… Grovyle is… a being that came here from the future."

Predictably, both Sky's and Goku's eyes widened at this sudden revelation

"But, how is something like that even possible? Someone coming from the future?" Sky responded.

Dusknoir went on, not addressing Sky's question as he continued his narrative, "Grovyle… in the world of the future he will be a notorious criminal. He has a large bounty on his head, To avoid capture, he fled. And in fleeing he escaped to this, the world of the past. After arriving in this time, Grovyle plotted… until he hit upon an utterly catastrophic plan."

"His plan?" Goku all but shouted, alarm in his eyes, "don't tell me it's…"

"Yes, it was nothing less than to use the time gears to cause the planet's paralysis."

"What does paralysis mean?" Goku whispered into Sky's ear.

"I dunno, I think it's when something can't move anymore." Sky whispered back.

"Yes." Dusknoir answered for them, having overheard their rather loud whispers (the fact that they were the only ones around helped a little, too), "if a planet becomes paralyzed, all movement upon it ceases. When a time gear is removed, the flow of time slows in its region. As many more are taken, time slows in an ever larger area. Eventually, the planet's flow slows down so much that it stops entirely. Ultimately, the planet reaches a state of total paralysis."

"But if the planet is paralyzed, what happens to this world?" Goku asked at this latest piece of ever complicating information.

"In a world where the planet has become paralyzed… No winds blow… The day never comes… Neither spring nor summer ever returns again… It's a world of unrelenting darkness. It would be no exaggeration to call it the complete ruin of the world."

"The world's ruin?" Sky questioned, "is _that_ what happens if the time gears are removed?"

"Yes, and returning to the way time has been going out of control recently… that too is the result of the theft of the time gears. If Grovyle manages to steal all of the time gears, this world will fall into ruin."

"That's- that's horrible!" Goku cut in, "we have to stop him! Come on Sky, let's go!"

"Wait!" Sky caught his arm before Goku could go anywhere, gesturing for him to slow down, "there's something about this I still don't get." with a pointed stare at Dusknoir after this second statement.

"Yes?" Dusknoir asked, "what is it?"

"I get that the world could end if we don't do something and all… but what I don't get, has to do with you. How do you know so much about this, about the future and everything? I mean you're older and seem smarter than us and all that, but that doesn't explain how you seem to know everything about this, when a lot of it hasn't happened yet. How could anyone know the future?"

"Ah yes, what you just said makes perfect sense. Under normal circumstances, that's true, there is no way I should know these things. But that is because, I too, am from the future."

"Wait a minute, what? I thought you were just gonna say you're psychic, or have weird visions or something."

"Yeah, like the one you had that one time!" Goku added.

"Excuse me, you've been having visions?" Dusknoir asked, seeming perplexed for the first time since their conversation started.

"Yeah yeah, I'll tell you later about that, but can you explain about how you're from the future."

"Yes yes, of course." Dusknoir responded, gathering his composure, "My objective is to capture Grovyle. It is for that reason that I came from the future. I needed to know as much as possible to ensure the capture of Grovyle. I therefore studied everything I could about this world while in the future. Thanks to that I know many things about this time. Including the giant monster of which we spoke earlier. "

"Wait… how do we know any of this is true? I mean, time travel and all seems a bit far fetched."

"Because I can tell you all there is to know about your visions, you are not the first individual I have run across with such an ability."

Sky looked taken aback, "You… you can? How?"

"Of course. For starters, it is known as the Dimensional Scream, and it is more closely linked to the Time Gears than you might think."

"... I guess that makes sense, but how did you manage to get to the past anyways."

"The same way Grovyle did. I went something known as a dimensional hole. To simplify things, think of it as a portal between times."

"Oh. of course. A portal. Seems legit."

"There are details about it I may explain on a later date, but my means of getting here aren't what's important right now. For starters, I cannot reveal the fact that I am from future to anyone else, and I ask that the two of you refrain from doing so as well. Grovyle cannot know that we have followed him, lest he become more secretive and harder to corner. My identity must remain hidden while we track him down."

"Is that why you're asking us to help you with this?" Goku asked.

"Yes?"

"Then let's get started!" Goku shouted, grabbing Sky by the arm as they turned to leave, "let's go stop this Grovyle from stealing the Time Gears!"

"NO!" Dusknoir shouted, startling them both. "Do you two even know where to look? On top that, Grovyle is an opponent far beyond the levels you two are at. If you were to attempt to fight Grovyle now… you would be utterly destroyed. His power is that much beyond your own."

"So… why are you asking us for help if we don't stand a chance against the big bad Grovyle?" Sky questioned.

"Because the two of you have potential, and fortunately we still have time. Grovyle is no fool, he will do his best to avoid leaving a trail, it may take many months before he makes an attempt at even a second time gear. But even to reach the time gears and stop Grovyle, you must navigate your way through some of the most dangerous Mystery Dungeons on the planet. It is with that that we will begin our training."

Sky looked at Dusknoir in alarm, this wasn't what he had signed up for at all! "Isn't there some other way to reach the time gears, without searching through Mystery Dungeons?"

"I'm afraid not. And it appears we've gotten ahead of ourselves on something."

"Yeah?"

"Your visions. You brought them up earlier. The Dimensional Scream. You wish to know more about it, do you not?"

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that."

"I haven't known you for even an hour, and somehow that statement doesn't surprise me in the slightest."

"Hey!"

"My apologies. I only jest. But once again, we've gotten ahead of ourselves. I haven't even learned your names. If we're going to be working together, I at least need to know that."

"Oh yeah!" Goku answered for him, taking the initiative as usual, "I'm Goku, and that's my friend Sky."

"Ah I see, so he's… Sky…" Dusknoir looked thoughtful for a moment, although, naturally, Goku didn't notice in the slightest, continuing, "Yeah! I found him unconscious on the beach one day!"

"You did?" If it were possible for Dusknoir to raise an eyebrow at this statement, he would have. Instead the crescent shaped hole his single eye glowed from out of arched up slightly, which filled the same purpose.

"Uh huh! And he had no memory too! On top of that, he says he's pretty sure he used to look different and not have a tail and all!"

"Uh Goku?" Sky interjected with a slight scowl, "is it really wise to be telling Dusknoir all of this. We just met him and this was supposed to be a secret."

"I think so. He's a time travelling hero on a quest to save the world, he's gotta be trustworthy."

"I suppose that makes sense…" Sky looked back at Dusknoir, who appeared to have been in deep thought during their entire conversation, "Mister Dusknoir!"

Dusknoir snapped back to reality at the sound of his own name, "Yes? What is it you wish to ask of me?"

"Would you happen to know anything about my condition, considering how much you seem to know about other things?"

Dusknoir frowned for a second, taking it all in, "...No. It means nothing to me unfortunately"

"Dangit…" Sky muttered under his breath, clenching his fist in frustration, until he saw something out of the corner of his eye that made him pause for a split second. _Is it just me or did I just see the faintest of smiles on Dusknoir's face? Or did I imagine that?_

"I'm sincerely sorry I couldn't help you with that, considering how much it must understandably be bothering you. If it is anything like other cases of amnesia I've heard of, perhaps your memories will return with time."

"Yeah, we seem to be talking a lot about time today."

Dusknoir chuckled, "That's an understatement if I've ever heard one. And as for your ability, the Dimensional Scream as it is known, I will tell you what I know about it, as compensation for my inability to help you in your identity problem. Unfortunately the Dimensional Scream is quite the rare ability, and my knowledge on it is incomplete. What I can tell you, if you haven't figured it out already, is it triggers visions of the past or future upon touching objects related to the events."

"Like when I brushed against Drowzee… So that's why."

"Indeed. Perhaps with time you'll be able to control these visions to use your ability more effectively. I'm afraid I can't help more than that, as there's little more to it than meets the eye."

"So," Goku cut in, shifting from one foot to another as he attempted to keep his energy in check, "you said you'd train us to be stronger than Grovyle, right? When are we going to begin?"

"I suppose we'll start first thing tomorrow. We have to reach our destination before we can begin our training."

Sky gulped, "You mean we're going into a Mystery Dungeon straight off the bat? What kind fo training is that? Aren't you going to teach us something first?"

"In my experience, the best place to learn is on the battlefield. You will hone your strength and technique in constant combat, and then I will teach you some moves to ease your trials. Now come, if we hurry we will reach the dungeon by nightfall."

With that Dusknoir turned and left, and after a moment's hesitation the two followed him, one unable to contain his excitement, and the other mentally preparing himself for the months to come.

* * *

Outside a small village, a lone figure perched atop a ledge, absentmindedly watching the lights of the town from afar. He pulled out a roll of parchment and unrolled it, revealing the map drawn on it. Grovyle traced a finger across it, moving from one symbol to another, swearing to himself.

"Curse it. I was lead to believe only three of the gears were unguarded, this complicates things, if only slightly. I suppose this shouldn't change too much, I'll still leave the lakes for last… and the next one may be unprotected yet… I haven't seen any sign of _him_ yet, but he's close, I can feel it."

Grovyle shook his head, clearing his thoughts as he rerolled the map and tucked it back away to where he had pulled it out from. "In the end, even if I do get caught, I suppose there's always plan B. I don't know where my partner ended up, but I'm sure he'll be able to finish what I've started…"

* * *

 **Sorry about this chapter not having any action, but the explanations and dialogue were kinda needed to set up the plot for the whole Time Gear Crisis arc from PMD2. Next chapter will be training, and more random cameos of Grovyle because those are fun, and then we'll get onto the action. I think. Things have a tendency of ending up very diffeent from how I originally planned.**


End file.
